Combination footwear remover and door stop



lNvENToR. J7MWQ H. STEPHENS COMBINATION FOOTWEAR REMOVER AND DOOR STOP Filed March '7, 1966 Oct. 8, 1968 United States Patent O 3,404,817 COMBINATION FOOTWEAR REMOVER AND DOOR STOP Hugh Stephens, 90 Leighton Ave., Winnipeg 15, Manitoba, Canada Filed Mar. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 532,230 2 Claims. (Cl. 223--114) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A simple, inexpensive, one piece high boot and galosh remover comprising a U-shaped bar with one leg of the U being rigidly secured to the inside lower surface of a door to provide for removal of a galosh and serve as a door stop.

In those areas where snowfalls are common, the need for galoshes or overshoes as a covering for footwear is very much in evidence as is the need to leave the grime and slush behind at the entrance of the dwelling, oice, library or other public place.

For aesthetic reasons overshoes are essentially formtting and as such present a problem in their removal. The tighter and more effective they are in this respect the more effort is required to remove them, and this, coupled with the accumulation of slush and the consequent soiling of the hands make manual removal a disagreeable experience. Older people `and those overweight find it particularly burdensome and somewhat exhausting to the point where assistance is sometimes required.

Applicant seeks to eliminate this discomfort and inconvenience by constructing, out of a flat resilient metal bar, preferably rubber covered, a simple rugged hook of U-'shaped configuration having one leg longer than the other. The longer leg, being the upper flat portion, is perforated to receive screw means and is securable to the lower inside portion of a door or other vertical surface. The lower portion of the bar being essentially of U-shaped hook configuration is open at the top with downwardly and inwardly tapering sides, providing a resilient receptacle to form-fit the various heel sizes of footwear. f

At a point immediately below the securable flat portion the bar is offset from the door, increasing its resiliency and provides a spacing between the hook and the door to prevent the latter being scutfed by footwear. The upwardly faced U-shaped hook being generally parallel in axis to the vertical securable portion has its free end terminating vertically, thus forming a fiat resilient rubberencased door stop which reduces to a minimum the possible abrasion of a cooperating baseboard or wall surface.

The rubber covering which eliminates abrasion of footwear also provides for a more effective grip on footwear during the removal process.

The installation of this device is simple: an alternate pair of holes in a cardboard template angularly position the location of the screws that secure the device to either right or left hand doors.

The wearer having entered the dwelling stands in a position with the body adjacent to and facing the open edge of the door. Holding the doorknob, the wearer inserts the heel of the overshoe or other footwear to be removed into the U-shaped portion of the device and by maintaining a slight downward and backward pressure on the heel lifts the foot out of the overshoe. This operation is repeated for the second overshoe. Shoes so removed may then be picked up by the uppers without soiling the hands and stored in a convenient place.

An object of the invention is to provide in combination with a door a device to simplify and speed the task of removing overshoes and other articles of winter footwear.

ICC

Another object is to assist aged and physically limited people to remove overshoes and other footwear by allowing them to remain in an upright position while so doing.

-A further object is to avoid soiling the hands in the operation of overshoe removal.

A still further object is to provide, in combination with a door, a footwear removal device which will also serve as a non-abrasive door stop.

In the drawings FIG. 1 is an end view of the door with the device secured thereto. FIG. 2 is a fragmental front view of the inside face of the lower portion of a door showing the angular setting of the device and the positioning of a shoe therein.

The footwear removing device comprises a fiat metal bar 1, bent to a U-shaped hook configuration 2 with both legs generally parallel and one leg terminating in a vertical flat surface 3 cooperating with a vertical baseboard 4 and encased in a nonabrasive resilient material such as rubber 5, rigidly securable to the lower interior face of a door 6, the angular positioning of device being such as to facilitate removal of footwear 7 whilst standing in an upright position, and by means of offset 8 which, in addition to improving the resiliency of the device also provides a space between hook 2 and door 6 thus preventing scufling by footwear 7.

In addition to its use as a device for the removal of footwear, the U-shaped hook configuration 2 together with non-abrasive covering 5 and the added resiliency provided by offset 8 is of such overall resilient design that the flat vertical portion 3 minimizes possible indentation of the baseboard 4 when serving as a door stop.

I claim:

1. A combination footwear remover and door stop comprising a flat one-piece resilient metal bar bent upwardly at one end forming a lower portion of generally U-shaped configuration and an upper vertical portion at the other end, said upper vertical portion being an extension of one of the legs of said U-shaped lower portion and having perforations formed therein for receiving screw means to attach said upper vertical portion to a lower portion of a door, the juncture of said upper vertical portion and said one of the legs having an offset portion extending inwardly toward the other of the legs spacing said one of the legs generally away from a ver tical plane of said upper vertical portion whereby said one of the legs will be spaced away from a door to avoid defacement thereof when removing footwear, said U- shaped lower portion being of a width downwardly decreasing to fit all sizes of footwear with the upper end portion of said other leg being substantially vertical to provide a resilient door stop against a wall surface.

2. A combination footwear remover and door stop as described in claim 1, said device sheathed in rubber or like resilient material to improve the grip and avoid abrading said footwear and wall surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 210,795 12/1878 Martin 223-114 442,759 12/1890 Struss 16-85 846,694 3/1907 Paul 223-114 FOREIGN PATENTS 30,572 11/1910 England. 534,361 3/1941 England.

PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner.

G. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner. 

